Long story short: Chauster's jungling, Jiji's staying mid, Hotshots relearning top and Locodoco is gonna play support for Doublelift.

Life goes on. AMA

edit: please don't make this a witchhunt or anything like that. the decision was made AS A TEAM by CLG it wasn't just hotshot or anything like that because they believed it was the right move. I'm just using this as an opportunity to talk openly with my fans.

omg thats why hotshot went to korea he went to korea recently on important business. he went to locos house to challenge his father to starcraft for the right to marry his son and have him support for CLG.

As one of the top laners who has faced you at your best throughout the years my question to you is does getting a girlfriend effect your play? You were the main reason I got so good at top lane compared to before I joined tsm or during the first few months on your olaf Lee days. I copied you and ever since they needed them I haven't seen you pick up any other super aggro heroes. Nobody does hyper aggressive top lane anymore like you did. When you get the chance are you gonna bring it back?

Yes. I most certainly will be looking forward to returning to my old roots. Hopefully with a new team that can embrace it. Personally, I think that as long as your girlfriend is supportive of what you do, which mine has been, that it has only helped me.

Thanks Dyrus, you're a good friend. Looking forward to playing against you more in Season 3 :) Being in korea separated us for 2 long ;D

Westrice is still the starter, and Salce is on the bench according to the team. However, the team put Salce on the starting roster for their tournament in China, and couldn't change it. That's why the team is practicing with Salce at top right now in preparation for their upcoming tournament.

NA underperformed. Plain and simple. The fact that the only win any NA team had was our victory against SK is pretty sad. However, if anything, it should have been a wake up call to our scene to man up and start taking the game as seriously as the rest of the world.

People neglecting the biggest change, Chauster leaving botlane. That was the only thing keeping them in games. He was Ash, Doublelift was Charizard. How is this pokemon gonna react without his trainer.

Right now I'm a sub. I've been given the option to stay on the team and stream/live in the house and all the typical things. I think that some teams will make me offers but we will have to see how things play out.

For /r/all, since I believe we just hit #1 with this over thrift store Marty McFly:

Voyboy, the creator of this AMA, (was) the top lane player for a team known as CLG.Prime or Counter Logic Gaming Prime. He has just been benched, possibly released, by his team in favor of a somewhat famous Korean player named Locodoco.

CLG.Prime (not to be confused with CLG.EU, the European arm of the organization, often considered to be one of the strongest teams in the scene) is a very well known team that has been around for a very long time in the League of Legends scene and has many passionate fans. During Season 1, they were often considered the team to beat both in the NA scene and globally. However, over time their star fell. They've been widely considered to be underperforming lately and have not won any major tournaments within the past year.

CLG itself is owned by a player known as HotshotGG (HSGG), one of the most famous players in League of Legends. The team itself has had 2 benching "scandals" previously:

Elementz, a support player, was benched due to "underperforming" and in order to find a place for Doublelift on the team. He was benched somewhat controversially with many disagreeing about whether he was the 'problem' within the team. His benching spawned the meme, "Better bench Elementz" often to refer to a nonsensical decision. Elementz was later recruited by team Curse.

SaintVicious, a jungle player, was traded to Curse in a three way trade between three major NA teams: Curse, Dignitas, and CLG. Dignitas gave CLG Voyboy in this exchange. Voyboy was considered one of the star players in the NA scene at this time and one of the best top lane players in the scene. It is believed by many that SaintVicious was traded due to his constant arguments with HSGG and his often abrasive manner in dealing with his teammates.

When the whole "tri-swap" drama occured (where iirc you, crumbzz and saint switched teams around), what was the reasoning behind you switching from dig to CLG? Other players had sound reasons (Crumbzz wasn't able to participate on crs gaming house due to personal arrangements, saint getting benched in clg) but I never really got around knowing your reason.

On an entirely separate note, it is a very unfortunate situation you are in currently, and I wish the best for you. You definitely don't deserve this kind of treatment.

I joined CLG because I believed in them and the commitment that we laid out to try to improve as a team against all odds and to take the game as serious as it could possibly be taken. I don't really think that this happened and now here we are.

When I first read this, it seemed weird that Locodoco, of all people, would replace anyone on the team. Were you given the option to support for Doublelift? And how long has the team been considering actually replacing someone? Do you know if Hotshot and Doublelift were specifically going to Korea to talk with Locodoco?

I didn't think CLG would be one of the teams to replace a member as I think you're all very good at your respective roles (except maybe Hotshot, but I don't see him retiring himself as a player). The problem for CLG (and the rest of the NA scene) seemed to be the lack of consistent training regiment the Asian scene had.

Do you feel you've been underperforming compared to other top laners? What would you say about some people comparing you to Shushei (in the sense Shushei had one successful tourney with Alistar, and you with Lee)?

No I wasn't given any other options. It was very blunt and sudden and I was pretty much told that the decision was final and that nothing could be done.

Compared to other top laners? No I do not think that I have been underperforming. Have I been carrying as hard as I would like? No of course not. I know that I can play better, just as everyone should know that they can do better, however I have been out performing every top laner in NA very hard (at the very least) for a long while now.

Since joining CLG, I haven´t seen any performances from him that would justify that he is "one of the best players in NA". Maybe it´s just the constant Diana picks but something isn´t working and they need to fix it.

CLG Voyboy says "Well, team said I have to play this champ for the team comp, and also to play that champ, also I'm supposed to just fight these little minion dudes instead of you. This is fun, I guess."

this seems familiar Hotshot sucking top decides to try support benches elementz.... realizes he sucks at it then goes back to top. Hotshot sucks at top benches me from jungle to try it out.... realizes he sucks at jungle goes back to top and benches Voyboy. I wonder where the problem is.

how can anyone disagree at this point? What has hotshot done to prove he's not the root cause of the problem? He never had an outstanding game as a jungler and wouldn't it go to reason that Voy may have had issues toplane due to having a weak jungler?

Hotshot could have become the coach/manager and his team would have had a better shot of winning and he would have gotten a ton of good press for it, now he's just showing himself to be the arrogant owner of the team we all assumed he was.

It's been increasingly hard to support CLG with all these strange decisions made by HSGG (and co.).

Benching Elementz? OK, that seems reasonable. He appeared to be the weakest link on a team that was struggling to perform to their previous standards. Doublelift as ADC is a good trade for Elementz as support, imo.

Benching Saint? And moving Hotshot to jungle? This change was met with skepticism at the start. But getting Voyboy at top almost balanced things out. Because Voyboy is a better top than Hotshot now and at that time. Hotshot learned jungle at a competently high Elo level, but is still far from world class tournament level. The team can adapt to this though, or so I thought.

This latest move is just as perplexing as the last, but only because Hotshot is replacing Voyboy. Really? Perhaps Voy hasn't shown us his old form (and other threads have examined the many reasons why) but there are more problems with CLG than Voyboy not dominating top like we all expect him to do.

Jiji has been absolutely underwhelming in most of his matches against top teams. But it seems that CLG is willing to be eternally patient with him (at least give Voyboy as much a chance to adapt to CLG's playstyle) even if he is miles behind other top AP mids. Does CLG really believe that Hotshot in the jungle wasn't a problem at and before Worlds? He's decent but there are many other junglers in NA itself you could stick into that lineup and have an instant upgrade. I would have thought that top and bottom lane for CLG were the safest as far as roster positions. Other than Hotshot, who seems very determined to keep himself on a premiere roster while 4 other very good players carry him. Where does his confidence to play at the highest level come from? Has he expanded his champ pool? Did he figure out how to win lane and carry?

The biggest problems to me were Jiji (mid) and HSGG (jungle). And CLG's non-standard strats. Basically anywhere Hotshot puts himself is a downgrade from what CLG could potentially have. In the end, it is his team, and if he wants to run it into the ground that is his prerogative. This is a weird time to be a CLG fan, and I have to admit, I am very disappointed with this lineup change. Now prove me wrong, and do something special with this new setup.

I know that because this is Voyboy's AMA that people are gonna be really supportive of him, but the fact of the matter is that he hasn't been impressive top at all. That's not to say that Hotshot has been even remotely good in jungle, but realistically Voyboy only play Assassin and Assassin like champs. He's only really dominated with Lee, Akali, and on one occassion Lulu. Even if he were playing well, his champion pool doesn't really fit that of CLG.

I think Hotshot will be better just because he does well with bruiser type champions that are standard in this meta.

The team itself has major problems though. Jiji rarely wins mid lane and when he does he never presses his advantage and roams. He also doesn't play too many assassins mid, which is a shame because they're usually broken on release and it could net the team some free wins. He waits a while before picking up new champions and alot of time they get nerfed before he can start playing them.

Double and Chau were never really a problem, can't really blame them honestly.

I've seen Chauster jungle. I think he's good and he does apply pressure on the map, but I feel like his item builds are usually wonky and he plays a little too selfishly.

Overall I agree that the best move may have been to move Hotshot to coach/manager and leave Voy top for a while and found a new jungler. This option isn't great (we won't know how it pans out for a while) but I think it's better than the current CLG we have.

I agree. He hasn't impressed at all. His attempt to learn Vlad was also a huge failure. Also, seeing him get absolutely crushed by Crumbzz at NA Regionals was weird. You'd think he would have the advantage in that matchup given that he used to play for Dig and has much more experience top than Crumbzz.

I think a clash of playstyle also hurt Voy though. He's the only player on the team who plays aggressive. That alone made it a rough adjustment for him since he would die to ganks so often because opposing junglers would take advantage of said aggression.

Overall though, a change needed to happen. Like you said though, Jiji has been a whole other issue for far too long. Double and Chauster have carried this team since Saint left.

I do agree that Hotshot has been underperforming in the jungle to a certain extent. However, at the same time, fingers can easily be pointed to everyone on the team, citing games that they "threw" and declaring that they are a problem.

Oh, ok, thanks for going into greater detail. I understand your frustration in all of this and pretty much agree with you. But yeah, of course George is gonna want to keep playing. Would've preferred to see you top tbh.

Voy, you don't fit CLG like you fit Dignitas. What originally drew me to Dig was the way you and Scarra synergized. You would play a hyper-aggressive top and draw attention, allowing Scarra to do his thing mid and you two were always on the same page.

CLG.NA's style is different. They're just more passive, safe players and it just never felt right watching you on that team.

Don't let this get into your head, just get back to playing your game and playing how you know you can. You'll land on your feet.

You guys gotta understand that in any competitive sport you have to perform and work together to create a successful team. If you aren't able to perform you deserve to get cut from the team because it's your responsibility to keep your skills equal or better than other players. Teamwork is also very important and you have to make sure to keep a nice atmosphere in the team or friendship will slowly fade and people will get annoyed at each others which is a huge issue. One of the easiest ways to clean up a team is kicking players.

I don't know how many of you guys remember the time I was in SK Gaming. We kicked a lot of players during my time in SK and that was for the better of the team. If people aren't as dedicated as you want them to be it simply won't work out and you have to change things. Most teams got stronger after their roster changes and many of the current top teams have had a lot of roster changes.

I can't name a single top team that haven't had a bunch of roster changes.

It is clear Hotshot is the one who is failing to perform. He hasn't been a top level player since nidalee was nerfed and teams banned Cho. Yet he has yet to be the one to receive the benching or being cut routine. He has tried support, he has tried jungle and now he wants to go BACK to top which he clearly was lacking in(hence the role swaps to begin with).

Even if you want to bring voyboys performance into question, you should know yourself, that jungle presence has such an impact on top lane. Which CLG has had none of since hotshot decided to "learn" jungle. His jungling skill was/is no better than the average 2k solo queue jungler.

But hey, it must make sense to bring in a new support and have chauster learn jungle now, all while putting hotshot back into a role he was failing to perform at to begin with.

I swear half the CLG's strategy had been having Hotshot play a tank and getting caught, and while they are distracted (and he's tanky so he'll take his time dying) everyone else teleports and split pushes.

Also what is your opinion on Chauster stating that they expected you to adapt to the meta but wouldn't/couldn't?

Also, I notice you play niche style top lanes (hecarim, nunu, katarina), quite well, but you don't pull them out often in tournament play, but instead old favourites that seem rusty. Do you think that is a correct assumption? If so, do you think it has effected your performance in the world championship?